Valencia 4 : 0 Osasuna - Valencia leave it late to secure third

Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2012 by PA

Aritz Aduriz and Jonas Oliveira both scored twice in the final 20 minutes as Valencia claimed a 4-0 win over 10-man Osasuna to ensure they will finish in the top four for the third consecutive season.

The hosts had bossed the first half without forcing Andres Fernandez into a serious save, but they were handed the initiative when Osasuna striker Dejan Lekic was sent off for pushing Adil Rami to the ground after the whistle had gone for half-time.

However, it took Valencia until the 76th minute to make the breakthrough as Jordi Alba crossed for Aduriz to head home at the back post.

Jonas made it two from Pablo Piatti's pass seven minutes later before Aduriz and then the Brazilian international again tapped home in the final few moments to double their respective tallies for the night and complete the win.

Levante's defeat to Real Zaragoza earlier in the evening means that even should Unai Emery's side now lose their last two fixtures their local rivals cannot overtake them as Los Che hold the better head-to-head record from their two league meetings this season.

It was not all plain sailing for Valencia though as after Alba had shot just off target in the 10th minute the hosts struggled to create clear-cut openings against a stubborn Osasuna defence.

Indeed Nino came close to giving the visitors the lead on the half-hour mark as he fired Raul Garcia's lay-off inches over.

However, Lekic threw away all Osasuna's good work at the end of the half as after an initial confrontation with Rami in which both were booked, he charged at the French international as the half-time whistle blew and was shown a straight red card.

Andres kept his side in the game with a fine save from Jonas on 58 minutes but there was nothing the keeper could do 18 minutes later as Alba burst down the left and produced a wonderful cross to give Aduriz the easiest of tasks to head in his eighth league goal of the season.

The floodgates then opened in the final 10 minutes as firstly Piatti fed Jonas at the end of an incisive counter-attack to double Valencia's advantage before another Alba break down the left teed up Aduriz to slot home his second.

And Jonas completed the scoring as he tapped home the rebound after Andres had produced a fine save to deny Aduriz his hat-trick two minutes from time.